A moving vehicle (a train) traveling on a track as in a new transportation system and a railway is known. A signaling system which controls the traveling of such a moving vehicle is known. The conventional signaling system is of a central supervisory control-type. In the central supervisory control-type signaling system, devices for a main safety function (a protection function) are concentrates in a control center, and the traveling states of trains in a whole railroad division are grasped and managed, in order to realize a function safety. The devices for the function safety (protection devices) contain an interlocking device, an ATP (Automatic Train Protection) ground device, and a station control device.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing a configuration of the conventional signaling system. This signaling system is divided into a control center, (a group of) trains, stations and railroad tracks. The control center grasps and manages the operation states of trains in the whole railroad division, to realize the function safety. The control center contains an operation control device 230, an ATP ground device 232, a station control device 234 and an interlocking device 236. The respective devices are mutually connected by an exclusive-use LAN (Local-Area Network) 238 to be bi-directionally communicable. The operation control device 230 controls the whole operation. The interlocking device 236 carries out the protection of traveling routes of the trains. The ATP ground device 232 prevents a collision between the trains. The station control device 234 attains the function safety of the control of opening/closing of doors of a platform screen door and train at a station.
Each of the (group of) trains is provided with an on-board device 210. The on-board device 210 controls the operation of the train under the control of the control center. The on-board device 210 is connected with the ATP ground device 232 by the exclusive-use LAN to be bi-directionally communicable. The station is provided with a remote I/O 220. The remote I/O 220 carries out the opening/closing control of the platform screen door 240 and the control of railroad switches 250 on the railroad track under the control of the control center. The remote I/O 220 is connected with the station control device 234 and the interlocking device 236 by an exclusive-use LAN to be bi-directionally communicable.
The operation of this conventional signaling system (the operation of a train) is as described below, for example.
When a departure time of an optional train gets closer based on the train diagram, the operation control device 230 refers to the on-rail state 205 from the ATP ground device 232 to check the on-rail state in the railroad division. When determining that the on-rail state indicates that the train is possible to depart, the operation control device 230 issues a departure command (or a traveling route request) 206 to the train.
When receiving the departure command (or the traveling route request) 206, the interlocking device 236 refers to the on-rail state 205 in the railroad division which is received from the ATP ground device 232 at a constant period and issues a command to the remote I/O 220 such that the railroad switches (branches) 250 in an object section for which the train travels, is coincident with the direction of a traveling route. The remote I/O 220 controls the railroad switches (branches) 250 in the object section for which the train travels, to be switched to the traveling route direction. The interlocking device 236 locks the railroad switches (branches) 250 after the switching. As a result, the traveling route of the train is exclusively established (traveling route control 201). A different train never travels on the traveling route. The interlocking device 236 outputs the state of such a traveling route to the ATP ground device 232 at a constant period as a traveling route state 207.
The ATP ground device 232 always monitors a train position by using a latest train position 204 received from detectors arranged on the railroad track and the train. The ATP ground device 232 outputs the on-rail state 205 in the railroad division, which is based on the monitoring result, to the interlocking device 236 at a constant period. Also, the ATP ground device 232 refers to the traveling route state 207 received from the interlocking device 236 at a constant period, outputs a traveling permission 202 to the train for which the traveling route is established, while considering to keep a safety distance from a preceding train. The train generates a speed profile to a traveling permission limit position when receiving the traveling permission 202, and starts to travel under the speed control to be carried out while referring to the profile.
The station control device 234 receives a train state 208 (the state in which the operation is perfectly stopped and a brake is working) through the ATP ground device 232, after the train has arrived at a station. At the same time, the station control device 234 checks a door state of a platform screen door 240 through the remote I/O 220. After it is confirmed that it is possible to open doors of the train and the platform screen door 240, the station control device 234 issues a door opening command 203 to (the on-board device 210 of) the train through the ATP ground device 232. At the same time, the station control device 234 issues a door opening command 203 to the platform screen door 240 through the remote I/O 220.
In this way, in the conventional signaling system, for example, the traveling route control is carried out by the interlocking device 236 to establish the traveling route of the train, and the train interval protection for issuing the traveling permission of the train is carried out by the ATP ground device 232. In other words, in the conventional signaling system, the traveling route control and the train interval protection are carried out by different systems.
This method is a method proved based on results but having a problem described below. For example, the method has a processing system in which the protection functions are independent from each other, as mentioned above. Therefore, the conventional signaling system has a redundant configuration. Therefore, considering the system configuration while paying attention to the safety of the signaling system, it is not possible to step out from the above configuration and there is a limit in the cost reduction.
Also, when the signaling system is introduced, the operation control device 230, the interlocking device 236, the ATP ground device 232, and the station control device 234 become necessary to control the operations of all the trains in the whole railroad division regardless of a railroad division scale and the details of the train operation. These are a minimum configuration when the signaling system is configured, and there is a limit in reduction of an introduction cost.
Especially, the operation control device 230, the ATP ground device 232, control device 234 and the interlocking device 236 control the operations of all the trains in the whole railroad division. Therefore, each device is allocated with a very large load. For this reason, each device is extremely large in size and is expensive. Therefore, a technique is demanded in which a space for the device can be reduced, an introduction cost can be reduced, and the handling is easy.
FIG. 1B is a diagram schematically showing a layout example of a main line and a railyard connected with the main line in a railroad division. In an example of FIG. 1B, the railroad tracks 260 in the railroad division includes a railroad track 260 of the main line, railroad tracks 263a (standby lines) in a standby field of the railyard and railroad tracks 263b (inspection lines) in an inspection field of the railyard. Considering the operations of the trains in the railyard, the following traveling patterns (1) to (3) of a train 271 could be generated.
(1) Traveling Between Standby Lines (263a) in Standby Field
This traveling is carried out to replace the train 271. Specifically, a train 271a on a railroad track 263a in the standby field is driven to travel to a turn-around point 281 (as a train 271b), and then driven to travel on another railroad track 263a in the standby field (as a train 271c).
(2) Traveling from Standby Field to Inspection Field
This traveling is carried out for a vehicle inspection of the train 271. Specifically, a train 271d on the railroad track 263a in the standby field is traveled to the turn-around point 281 (as the train 271b), and the train 271b is traveled to the inspection field (train 271e) and is traveled onto the railroad track 263b in the inspection field (train 271f).
(3) Traveling Between Inspection Lines (263b) in Inspection Field
This traveling is carried out to move the train 271 from an inspection line for carrying out some check (e.g. light check) to another inspection line for carrying out another check (e.g. heavy check). Specifically, the train 271f on the railroad track 263b in the inspection field is traveled to the turn-around point 282 (train 271g), and then it is traveled to another railroad track 263b in the standby field (train 271h).
When the train 271 is traveled according to such a pattern, the turn-around point 281 or 282 are previously determined, the train is once moved to the turn-around point 281, 282, the traveling direction is switched, and then the train is traveled to a destination point. In the conventional signaling system, the traveling route to the turn-around point is manually set, and after the train 271 completes the traveling to the turn-around point, a traveling route to the destination point is newly set to travel the train 271.
The above method is executed in a processing procedure described below, due to the mechanism of the signaling system.
First, a command staff selects a vehicle as a traveling object. Next, the command staff checks an on-rail state around the object vehicle. After that, the command staff sets a traveling route to the turn-around point manually by using an operation control device. Thus, the vehicle travels to the turn-around point. The command staff checks whether or not the vehicle arrives at the turn-around point. Next, the command staff checks the on-rail state around the object vehicle. After that, the command staff sets the traveling route to the destination point manually by using the operation control device. Thus, the object vehicle arrives at the destination point.
The following problems appear in this method.
The method is executed by a manual interrupt in the state that vehicles go out and enter through the replacement with the main line (railroad track 263). Therefore, the replacement with the main line is delayed as the time necessary for the replacement work becomes long, which result in the reduced transportation capacity. Also, when an object vehicle on the standby line travels to the inspection field, it is necessary to move the object vehicle after vehicles in front of the object vehicle are moved to another standby line, if the object vehicle is on the standby line behind the vehicles. It imposes a load on the command staff. A technique in which the load of a manual operation can be reduced and the railyard can be used efficiently is demanded.
As a related art, JP 2012-96704A discloses a radio train control system and a radio train control method. The radio train control system includes a central device, a station control device provided for each railroad station and connected with the central device to be communicable, an on-board device provided in each train and connected with the station control device to be radio-communicable in a radio communication area of a station and a periphery of the station. In this radio train control system, the on-board device includes transmission means for transmitting position information to the station control device. The station control device includes main operation means for receiving the position information from the on-board device, storing on-rail information showing that the train is on a rail every partitioning section, transmitting the on-rail information to the central device, receiving instruction information from the central device, and controlling devices in the station based on the instruction information. The central device includes main operation means for determining a traveling permission range of each train based on the on-rail information received from the station control device and transmitting instruction information to the station control device. Moreover, the station control device further includes advance data storing means for setting advance data showing that the train advanced into the station, to a inerasable state when cannot be normally communicated with the central device. The central device includes return means for receiving all the advance data from the station control device and returning to a main use operation from a temporary use operation after the partitioning sections where all the trains are present are determined.
Also, JP 2012-131324A discloses an operation security method and an operation security system. The operation security method is a method by the operation security system which includes 1) a control device which manages an occupation state in each closed section, 2) a railroad switch control device which controls a railroad switch, and 3) an on-board device which is loaded into a train and carries out an interlocking control of the configuration of a traveling schedule route based on each closed section and position information of the railroad switch. The method includes a securement request step in which the on-board device transmits a securement request signal to the control device to request the occupation securement of the closed sections of a traveling schedule route; an occupation securing step in which the control device carries out a determination of whether or not all of the closed sections of the traveling schedule route meet a predetermined occupation possible condition, based on the securement request signal, sets all the closed sections to occupation existence when meeting the predetermined occupation possible condition, and transmits a securement signal to the on-board device; a first switching instruction step in which the on-board device transmits a switching instruction signal to a switch control device for a switch on the traveling scheduled route when receiving the securement signal; a switching step in which the switch control device carries out the switch and lock operation to transmits a switching completion signal to the on-board device when receiving the switching instruction signal; a traveling permission step in which the on-board device permits the traveling to the traveling scheduled route when receiving the switching completion signal; a release request step in which the on-board device transmits a release request signal to request the occupation release of the closed section which the train has traveled; and an occupation release step in which the control device releases the occupation of a target closed section based on the release request signal.